By Greg Perkins
The Lady Lobos opened January play with a tough overtime loss at Payson last Friday night.
Playing their first game back after the holiday break, Snowflake looked sluggish early, according to Coach Don Godfrey, but they still kept in touch with the Lady Longhorns, trailing just 33-30 at the half.
The Payson squad extended its lead to six heading into the fourth quarter, but in the final eight minutes Snowflake trimmed away those final six points, forcing overtime.
In the overtime session, Longhorn center Arissa Paulson took advantage of Jessica Neff being in foul trouble and took over, scoring the majority of the home team’s overtime points and finishing off Snowflake by a final of 66-61. Paulson led all scorers with 32 points.
“We were rusty coming off the break, but still had our chances. Once Jessica fouled out late in the game they pounded the ball into their big girl and we weren’t able to stop her,” said the coach.
Annika Decker played well for the Lobos, finishing the game with a team high 25 points. Neff added 10; Courtney Baldwin and Kadi Johnson, 6 each; Marisa Godfrey, 4; and Melissa Eich, 2.
With the loss the Lobos fell to 6-8 overall, but leveled their power point record at 2-2. With all games from this point forward counting toward the final power point standings, like all area teams the Lobos need to compile as many wins as possible.
After playing at Holbrook on Tuesday, they will travel to Sedona on Thursday, Jan. 9, and to Show Low on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Two nights later, they will be back at home for a matchup with Alchesay.